Taking note of an "unprecedented surge" in Covid-19 cases in the country, the Supreme Court on Saturday passed directions for decongestion of prisons and ordered forthwith release of all those prisoners who were granted bail or parole last year in view of the pandemic.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices L Nageswara Rao and Surya Kant said that all those prisoners who were allowed to go out on bail in March last year by the high-powered committees of states and Union Territories (UTs), set up following the apex court's order, be granted the same relief without reconsideration by HPCs to avoid delay.